Microsoft Flight Simulator guide: How to find famous landmarks

One of the most exciting things to do in Microsoft Flight Simulator is visiting some of the world’s most interesting landmarks, or Points of Interest as the game calls them.

Thankfully, the process of flying to some of the most spectacular sights on the planet isn’t all that difficult. However, if you’re eager to fly by these wonders, there’s a few points worth knowing before you take off.

In this Microsoft Flight Simulator guide, we’ll show you exactly how to find and fly to landmarks and Points of Interest.

How to find landmarks

From the main menu, select the World Map / Free Flight mode to begin searching for a destination.

If your destination is a well-known landmark like the Eiffel Tower, you may be able to find it via the search bar on the left side of your screen. If it’s available as a Point of Interest, click on it, and the map will zoom to its location. From there, it will give you option to choose that Point of Interest as an departure or arrival destination.

Image: Asobo Studio/Microsoft Corporation via Polygon

If you choose it as your departure location, the simulator will spawn you directly next to that destination. Resist the urge to do this.

By selecting a point of interest as your departure, the game will load you into the skies next to it. Once the simulator loads the destination, you will find your landmark directly ahead of you, giving you mere seconds to look at it as you fly past it. While this is the quickest way to get you to your point of interest, it totally ruins the magic of seeing your landmark in the greater context of where it’s located.

Instead, set your landmark as your arrival point. Then zoom out the map and look around for an airport to fly from. All airports have a target-like icon on them. Once you’ve found one, click on it, and select it as your departure location.

Image: Asobo Studio/Microsoft Corporation via Polygon

With your departure and arrival locations set, now you can see the path you must fly to find your landmark. On this screen, you’ll also see how long it’ll take to fly to your destination.

Now that you’re all set, you can fly to your destination from the nearby airport. Once you’re in the air, access your Navlog by hitting the N key on your keyboard or by selecting it from the Toolbar with your mouse.

An information panel will pop up showing you the distance to the arrival point you set, the estimated time it’ll take for you to arrive there, and most importantly, the heading in degrees that leads to your location.

Image: Asobo Studio/Microsoft Corporation via Polygon

In the image above you can see that the Navlog shows that we need to fly 74 degrees from the airport to get to the Eiffel Tower. Similar to the Free Flight map screen, we can see that our trip is about three minutes long, heading northeast.

As long as you’re trying to find the Points of Interest that are listed in the game — like national landmarks, famous buildings, or historical sites — you can use this technique to easily navigate to each.

Sometimes it’s difficult to find an airport close to your Point of Interest. In that case, you can click anywhere on the map in the Free Flight menu to set a departure destination. Doing this will spawn you in the sky. As long as you’ve set your arrival to your Point of Interest, you can use the Navlog to find the appropriate heading to find your landmark.